The club stated that invites for Juniors would go out based on rec coach recommendations. as previous posters stated, it wasn’t competitive pre-pandemic to receive an offer for it so I imagine they cast a wider net this year. Having said all that, the training is definitely better than rec on average. If U9 Travel is on your radar, then this would be a good option for you.

Anonymous wrote:So, this year, since there were no tryouts, did they just invite everyone who was in rec in the spring?

I'm a new poster and I'm wondering this exact thing too. We are new to the juniors program and had no idea why we were getting this "offer" unsolicited.

So, this year, since there were no tryouts, did they just invite everyone who was in rec in the spring?

Anonymous wrote:you will get better coaching than in REC and if your child does eventually want to play travel, its a good start because its taught by soccer coaches vs. parents. We had a good experience. I can't speak on how competitive it is, but in the past it was open to 45 boys total.

I would ask what their plan is for social distancing

My kids did it. On the girls side, they took every girl who "tried out" and still had spots left. On the boys side they had just the right amount including a handful of kids who were a year younger. It's not competitive to get in.

I thought the coaching was very good, but only a small percentage of kids truly benefited from of it. I think a lot of kids just weren't developmentally ready. It was good training for one of my kids, but essentially a waste of money for the other. (A waste of a lot of money.) Not blaming the coaches at all--she just lacked the discipline and would have learned more in a more "fun" setting. It is too bad because she is a natural athlete and the experience turned her off to travel.

We thought the coaching was good for the time we spent there.

From what we saw this past year, they also identified girls to pull up to U9 teams during the season. Most if not all of these girls playing up for at least part of this past year were offered a top team spot for U9 this upcoming year.

Anonymous wrote:you will get better coaching than in REC and if your child does eventually want to play travel, its a good start because its taught by soccer coaches vs. parents. We had a good experience. I can't speak on how competitive it is, but in the past it was open to 45 boys total.

PP above. I didn’t mean to imply that it wasn’t fun or a good program, just that it wasn’t competitive to receive and offer. All 3 of my kids enjoyed it.

you will get better coaching than in REC and if your child does eventually want to play travel, its a good start because its taught by soccer coaches vs. parents. We had a good experience. I can't speak on how competitive it is, but in the past it was open to 45 boys total.

It used to be very competitive a decade ago when the program first started. Now, pretty much anyone and everyone willing to pay.

Received an offer email for U8 juniors for next year for our kid. Anyone else? How did they decide who gets the invite?